Flight IY 626 of Yemen Airliner Crashes in Indian Ocean off Comoros

by OldSailor on June 30, 2009

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Flight IY 626 of Yemenia Airway (of Yemen) with 142 passengers along with a crew of 11 onboard crashed early Tuesday, June 30 in the Indian Ocean near the Moroni port of the Comorian Republic (Comoros islands). It seems June 2009 is an unlucky month for passenger flights.
On June 01, Air France (AF) Flight 447 crashed in Atlantic Ocean midway after taking off from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, France with 228 people (216 passengers and 12 crew members).
Some more information available regarding the crash are:

The aircraft crashed is Airbus A 310-300.

The aircraft took off from the Sana’a International Airport of Yemen at 9:45 pm of local time on June 29 to reach Moroni, the capital of Comoros.

The flight duration was around 4 hours.

While making approach to land at Moroni, the aircraft crashed in the Indian Ocean just few minutes before landing within 8 nautical miles from Comorian coast.

Contact with the aircraft was lost at 1:51 am of Moroni local time, June 30.

The crash site is reported to be Mitsamiouli and some bodies were seen at the crash site.

Rescue teams including foreign ships and planes are searching for any survivors at the crash site.

Preliminary reports say

the crash was due to rough weather

an oil spot was seen 16-17 nautical miles off the port of Moroni in the Islands of Comoros

The aircraft was carrying 142 passengers including three infants, mostly French and Comorian people.

A Yemeni committee led by Minister of Transport has been set to probe the crash.

Yemenia Airway in their website flashes “Yemenia regrets to announce the missing of its flight No. IY626 from Sana’a to Moroni with 142 passengers and 11 crew onboard ِAirbus 310-300 for more information contact the call center at 00967 1250800 or the emergency No 00967 1 250833”

Yemeni authorities have revealed the nationalities of passengers who were onboard the jetliner, which crashed in the Indian Ocean. Also one survivor was found from the crash area. France has provided two military boats and a plane from the Indian ocean isles of Mayotte and Reunion. Read more from Yemen News Agency and France 24.

A 14 year old girl is the only survivor rescued so far. Three bodies were also recovered and the location of up to a hundred others has been identified by search and rescue personnel.

Further the crashed aircraft Airbus A 310-300, was banned to fly in French air space due to faults observed in 2007 by the DGCA [France’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation]. Further the crashed aircraft did not belong to Yemenia Airway, but it was owned by another company, named International Lease Finance Corp. Also it is reported that the aircraft that flies usually between Sanaa and Moroni is in very poor condition and badly maintained.

Signal from the aircraft’s black box was located on June 30, at 4:30 pm local time (1230 GMT) by an aerial patrol, 40 kilometres from Grande Comore. A French patrol ship, the Rieuse is expected to commence operations to recover black box on July 01. Read more from France 24.

Now it is reported that signal picked up was from distress beacons of the aircraft and not from black box. Also 12 year old Bahia Bakari, the only survivor so far rescued from crash site is flying back home to Paris in a French government aircraft. Read more from France 24.